Happy Heart

Some of you may know this already, some of you may not. In September, I had my annual physical with my doctor. She took my heart rate 5 times and my average resting heart rate was 44 beats per minute. Normal RHR are 60-100. She was slightly alarmed but not overly concerned. Along with my routine blood work, she ordered an EKG test just to double check this number. The results were more alarming. My RHR was 35 bpm. She is an extremely thorough doctor and I am very pleased with her investigative nature and her genuine concern in the health of her patients. I was called into her office so she could explain to me what this number meant and where we would go from here. After realizing I was not symptomatic (no dizziness, fainting spells etc...), she was quite relieved but still required a second opinion from a cardiologist. As you can imagine, I was a little worried about this. It's not like she was investigating my big toe... it is my heart after all. Having said all that, I know that I am in good health and feel as though I am in the best shape of my life. I consistently work out 5 times a week and she did say that this may have something to do with my heart rate but she also noted that Olympic athletes don't seem to have resting heart rates this low. I was scared. Not gonna lie. Anyway, my appointment was this past Wednesday. I woke up in a somber mood with my hungry stomach in knots. Cam accompanied me to this appointment which was at the Royal Alexander Hospital. When I arrived, I was hooked up to several wires and was asked to do an exercise stress test. I was required to walk on the treadmill for a period of time and gradually both the pace and incline would increase. They would monitor my heart while I was doing this. After 13 minutes on the treadmill, Dr. Cheung announced that I was in great health! He said that in active young people, it is quite normal to see such low heart rates but that there was no reason to be worried. He also informed me that the amount of exercise I do is quite a bit for the average adult and thus contributing to my low heart rate. It wasn't until Cam and I walked out of the appointment that I realized how heavily this looming doctor's visit was weighing on me. I immediately felt this burden lift off of my shoulders. I felt lighter. We celebrated with a trip to Starbucks and big hug to my girlies when I got home! So there you have it, I have a happy heart.